August 1955, a 20 acre fairytale theme park opens in Ellicott City, Maryland. The Enchanted Forest eventually expanded to 52 acres of themed buildings, track rides, and even a safari. Every summer the park entertained about 300,000 visitors until its first close in 1989. By 1992, more than half of the park was turned into a parking lot and and shopping center. In 1994, the park was reopened, only to close again permanently in 1995 and is supposedly being preserved and restored.

We headed to Baltimore with no specific destination, and completely no knowledge of The Enchanted Forest. Luckily, we happened to have a friend that lives in Maryland that told us about a few places to see, The Enchanted Forest being one of them. Although the park is surrounded by a chain link fence, the main entrance to the theme park still stands, and is blatantly visible from the road. The structures that are still inside of the park are somewhat dilapidated, but still astounding none the less. Amongst the buildings covered in overgrown vegetation there is even a lake. And for a split second in time everything around you seems whimsical and you can almost hear the music and laughter, and imagine The Enchanted Forest in its glory days.

UPDATE: According to the ellicottcity.patch.com site, as of October 2013, The Enchanted Forest site has been knocked down and cleared, a bank will being going in its place.